The thing I'd make sure about is if there is a chance they might try to get you into their new "bootcamp prep" course after this. The bootcamp prep is a new thing where it's like $3k+ and they guarantee you get into a top bootcamp, but "top" includes GA and Dev and others which anyone can get into anyway.

If there are exactly two possibilities after this - 1) Get into AA or 2) Get your $500 back and go home, then it's not toooo much different than the normal track, other than 2-3 weeks of your life and SF travel/expenses of course.

Idk if I am optimistic about the medium-term outlook of bootcamps and entry-level coding jobs in general (at least without a CS degree) and that's ultimately what it boils down to and what you have to figure out.

Yeah, the wife had just stumbled onto the bootcamp prep thing. That's a pretty good point. Something about it feels very social engineery.

I'll have to send them a response and find out more about it. If you or blackize would like to see the full text just let me know and I should be able to PM it. It is pretty long though, might be over the character limit.

I wonder if this is a new thing or if any current attendees would be familiar with this jump start thing. Does strike the "sounds too good to be true" nerve a little.

It looks like a real thing:

https://github.com/appacademy/jump-start

This feels like yet another way to vet applicants, maybe for those they aren't sure about one way or another or maybe it's a new filter that they put all seemingly qualified people through. Either way it looks like another hoop to jump through.

All bootcamp language has always sounded too good to be true, and usually is, except for when they first started (say 2012-2013) and AA and HR and maybe a small number of others, but probably getting "too good to be true" by the day even for those.

Alright, email sent off. Will report back what I hear. Thanks all!

It is weird that there is very little relative info about the job placement rates of these boot camps and there are tons of them around now. It makes me think that they probably have a fairly high placement rate, otherwise people would be pissed off and posting about it and it would pick up steam quickly. also, many programs claim very high placement rates.

My only thought would be that this helps short term income flow for the business to help stabilize the gaps between cohorts as well as open up the business to applicants that otherwise couldn't afford it.

All speculation though haha.

So there's no connection between jump start and bootcamp prep. Bootcamp prep is 3 grand, guarantee to get into one of 18 boot camps. Jump start is $500 to hold your spot, refundable if you don't get accepted into AA, and applied to your tuition if you are accepted.

My thoughts are that it seems like maybe the cohort they are advertising this for perhaps had lower than expected applications and this is a good way to ensure they have a full cohort.

It could also be that I have an impressive resume and talent as a programmer, but I have way too low self esteem to believe that nonsense.

You can get accepted and delay entry into the program into the next cohort. So it looks like I'm going to California, assuming they're not already full.

Most of them probably have bad hiring rates. It's hard for students to speak out maybe because they are embarrassed and are possibly shooting themselves in the foot even more by bringing bad publicity to the bootcamp.

For the ones with high rates still, like AA, I'd want to know when they were calculated. Last I knew, AA's 98% at $105k was calendar year 2014, meaning you're counting only students who graduated in or before December 2013 (98% is within one year I believe). The landscape is waaaaaayyyyy different for a March 2016 grad compared to a December 2013 grad.

Basically this is a way in AngularJS for extending the HTML declarations.

There are many inbuilt directives that AngularJS provides and the following are few among them.

a- ng-app
b- ng-controller
c- ng-repeat
d- ng-model
e- ng-click

The directives can be used as attributes, class names, HTML tags, etc. The inbuilt directives are prefixed with ng and they can also be written with “:” and ”_” like ng.

So what would you put job rate percentage as?

I'm about to start a very special journey. I'm quitting my 90k/ year ultrasonic testing technician to pursue a software engineering degree. This adventure should last about 7 years. Hopefully I'll be able to find a job in 7 years lol.

It's not AA or Hack Reactor, but here is an independently compiled report of Flatiron School's immersive programs from 2015. It claims a 99% graduation rate and 98% placement within 120 days with an average salary of $74k.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mjtbbbh58r..._2015.pdf?dl=0

This kind of openness to share outcomes lead me to join their new Learn Verified online program, which is $1k/month, self-paced, and money-back guarantee if you're not a web developer 6 months after passing their final assessment.

Seems like there are more of these online, money-back guarantee programs popping up lately.

Flatiron is the only audited one so far, but there's a good chart of self-reported data here. Some sites also post their data on their Course Report review pages.

That report actually says 95% within 120 days, and a lot of those are paid apprenticeships.

You can do programming as a hobby.

My goal is to change career and get a degree so I could find a job abroad.

I already have too many hobbies.

Why seven years? Work and school simultaneously? I'd think most engineering credits would transfer to a comp sci degree.

Maybe BS+MS? I was thinking the same thing. A dedicated adult student going to school full time could probably do a BSCS in 3 years.

Confirmed going to AA jump start. Flight booked, confirmation from AA received.

This site and thread make me pretty scared and depressed about my bootcamp. Or mebbe it's different out here and y'all should just move.

Really, this app academy seems rediculous in comparison. We have fluent learned programmers who presumably have some love for it and who have completed some fairly complex projects or exercises like noodle waz and he can barely get in.

And now these very smart and somewhat accomplished programmers are completing a topbof the line and fairly prestigious program and they still can't get a job?

What chance do ppl like me have after attending a new bootcamp where none of the other students knew how to program going in?

Chill chill. I'm the one who's negative, and it's more trying to predict the future than an actual reality yet. It worked out phenomenally well for me.

App Academy gets a ton of applications because of the marketing and the promise (any bum can make $105k after doing this for 3 months, and you don't even pay unless that happens), so of course it's hard to get in except possibly for a very clear-cut genius with an MIT CS degree (who doesn't need it). Their "false negative" rate is probably high and I think they admit that.

how far are you into your bootcamp Victor? Which one is it?

Be prepared mentally and financially for a long, often time frustrating search after the bootcamp ends. It has been 4 weeks since I graduated. Right now I have completed 150 job applications with 4 phone screens, 2 coding challenges, and zero on site interviews. People with similar backgrounds as me (No CS degree, no engineering experience, no big name school) are showing similar stats. Out of 35 people who are currently looking for jobs, I believe 6 have offers right now. All of those people except one have either CSS degrees, or engineering degrees from big name schools and engineering work experience.

I am cautiously optimistic that I will get a job within the next 2 months, along with my cohort mates. The person with a job that has no CSS/Engineering background seemed to have a lot of success applying in Florida. Some bigger companies surprisingly seem open to hiring bootcamp grads, but the application process seems to take a while. A ton of startups are hiring for Rails, but for some inexplicable reason my bootcamp decided Node is the next big thing and taught that instead. Once I learn Rails I think that my job hunt will be times over easier.

Be prepared for some trying, frustrating times at the end. But if you get a job at the end it is all worth it.